Viral video does not show Bangladeshi Muslims desecrating deity’s idol but Hindu religious ceremony in India

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image and keyword search to find the original source of the video.

Posts from multiple Indian users on social media platform X since December 2, 2024, shared a video of a large crowd with multiple people climbing over a Hindu idol, claiming it showed Muslims attacking and vandalising the statue in Bangladesh. However, the video is originally from a Hindu religious ceremony in India.

In August 2024, a student-led uprising led to widespread protests in Bangladesh that toppled autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina and ended her 15-year reign. The unrest saw a surge in disinformation and hate speech against Hindus and Muslims on the internet, presumably aimed at creating divides between the religious communities.

India — Hasina’s biggest international patron and the destination of her exile — accused Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus of failing to protect minority Hindus, straining ties between the neighbours.

HOW IT STARTED

On December 2, the editor of Bangladeshi tabloid Blitz magazine, Salah Choudhury, posted a video on X featuring people climbing over a giant Hindu idol and allegedly attacking it.

The post was captioned: “While Islamists in Bangladesh attacking Hindu Temples, vandalising deities, their leaders are making tons of cash by importing essential food items, including potato, spices, lentil, egg etc from India.”

The post amassed over 192,400 views and 1,400 re-shares.

The same video was shared by an X account based in India, with the caption: “Another Hindu temple vandalised in Bangladesh by Islamists. Only a sword of Maharana can stop this, not the banning of potatoes,” gaining over 30,000 views.

Similar claims were widely shared by other Indian users as can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality, the public’s keen interest in Hindu-Muslim relations in Southeast Asia and the potential to create a religious divide between the two communities.

A reverse image search yielded a longer version of the video uploaded on YouTube on Nov 30. The viral clip can be seen in the video at the 0:27 mark.

The same video was posted on Facebook on Nov 29 with a caption translated from Bangla: “#SultanpurKalimataNiranjan”.

A keyword search of “Sultanpur” and “Kalimata Niranjan” yielded many videos from the alleged event.

A Facebook post, dated November 26, 2024, featured a video of the same Hindu idol visible in the original clip.

The caption translated from Bangla read: “Kalimata Niranjan of 12 years tradition Let’s have some moments of mother’s idol Niranjan Mother, keep everyone healthy Place: Sultanpur, Khandaghosh, East Burdhaman 12 years of waiting is over – together to bid farewell to Mother Kali! ” Organised by: Sultanpur Kiranmayi Library and Sultanpur villagers.”

According to local daily newspaper Dainik Statesman, the Kali Mata Niranjan ceremony in Sultanpur, located in Burdwan’s Khandghosh block, is held every 12 years, involving the worship of a 12-foot Kali idol and then ceremoniously immersed in the Kalimata pond.

During the immersion, the statue is broken into pieces, beginning with the Mandal family, followed by thousands of devotees in a colourful procession.

The most glaring sign the video did not show Bangladeshi Muslims vandalising a Hindu idol was that chanting of Hindu slogans could be heard from the charged crowd in the viral video.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows Bangladeshi Muslims desecrating a Hindu deity’s idol is false.

The clip is from a religious ceremony from West Bengal, India, called “Kali Mata Niranjan”. It is held every 12 years and involves the disintegrating of a giant Hindu deity into pieces and immersing it in the Kalimata pond.